Ticket collection
Lost stations and halts
Having researched stations and halts in and around Oxford which are no longer operational, see the 'Lost stations and halts' page under the 'Bits & BOBS' menu tab, we thought it would be interesting to expand the area and collect some tickets from stations and halts in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire which no longer exist.
The Abingdon branch
The 1¾ mile Abingdon branch opened on 2nd June 1856. It was built to the broad gauge and joined the line between Didcot and Oxford just north of the bridge over the River Thames at Nuneham where a simple junction station was provided, there being no intermediate halts. There was no road access to this station and, having spartan facilities, it served merely as an interchange. Both the main line to Oxford and the Abingdon branch were converted to standard gauge in November 1872. The branch line was later extended alongside the main line for ¾ of a mile to a new station at Radley which was opened on 8th September 1873. The station at Abingdon Junction was closed and the site cleared.
Passenger services were generally locomotive hauled but steam railmotors were tried out for a short period. At its peak in the 1930s there were 18 passenger trains a day in each direction. There were some through passenger trains to Oxford and beyond, mainly specials, but the line generally operated a short shuttle service between Radley and Abingdon. In the late 1940s the MG Car Company started using the railway to transport its sports cars which were built at a factory on the other side of town, and during the mid 1970s there were several car trains every week, each carrying up to 70 vehicles on special CarFlat wagons. Passenger numbers continued to decline however and the branch was listed for closure by Dr Beeching. Passenger services were withdrawn from 9th September 1963 and all the station buildings were demolished in 1971 leaving only the platform, track, goods office and the stable block. With both the regular coal and MG car traffic the branch looked to have a reasonable future as a freight only line, also seeing the occasional enthusiasts' special. However, in 1980 the MG car factory closed so for a while the only traffic was a weekly coal train but all traffic ceased on 27th March 1984 following closure of the coal yard.
On 30th June 1984, what was left of Abingdon Station saw the very final rail traffic when two enthusiasts' specials ran from Oxford to Abingdon and back, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. A petition was raised in an attempt to keep the branch open as a heritage line for it to be operated by a preservation group, but it came to nothing. Radley station is still an important stopping place for both local and longer distance trains, although it lost all its facilities and was relegated to unmanned status when passenger operations ceased on the Abingdon Branch. Some refurbishment took place in 2008 when a new footbridge and shelters were installed, and in 2019 the platforms were lengthened to accommodate longer trains. The Station Master's house, built by the GWR in about 1899, still stands alongside the station access road.
Abingdon
Third Class Privilege return for travel between Abingdon and Radley dated 17 JUL 1950. This would have been a short journey with no intermediate stations or halts.
The Princes Risborough to Oxford Railway
In 1861 the Wycombe Railway Company was authorised to construct a broad gauge railway from Princes Risborough to Oxford. Thame was reached the following year but construction onwards to Oxford took more time, delayed partly by the need for a 520 yard tunnel at Horspath, and the line to Oxford was eventually opened on 24 October 1864. This single track line joined the Didcot to Oxford line at Kennington Junction, just south of Oxford. The Wycombe Railway was worked by the GWR and was absorbed by them in 1867. Three years later the whole line was closed for just over a week whilst it was converted to standard gauge.
When the line was opened, there were intermediate stations at Bledlow, Thame, Wheatley and Littlemore. The small Tiddington Station between Thame and Wheatley opened in 1866. Halts at Horspath, Garsington Bridge and Iffley were opened in 1908 in connection with the new steam railmotor service. Garsington Bridge Halt closed in 1915 and was superceeded in 1928 by Morris Cowley Station built on the same site to serve the adacent Morris Motors factory. Horspath Halt remained open only for seven years, closing in 1915, but it was to reopen on 5th June 1933 when the GWR also opened their new halt at Towersley which is between Thame and Princess Risborough.
January 1963 saw the final passenger train on the line and the central section of the track was closed and had been lifted within a few years. The end sections were retained for goods traffic however, from Princess Risborough to an oil depot at Thame (closed in 1991 and the track lifted from Princes Risborough in 1998), and from Kennington Junction to the car factory at Cowley. There are continuing moves to re-open this latter section to passengers and run a service between Banbury and Cowley with new stations at Oxford Science Park and Cowley, but at the time of writing this is still just a proposal.
Princes Risborough became a busy and important junction station as, in addition to the line to Oxford, a connecting line to Aylesbury opened in 1863 and the branch line to Watlington followed in 1872. The line was extended in various stages until the Bicester cut-off line was opened by the GWR in 1910. The line via Bicester North now forms part of the main line connecting Birmingham to London via Banbury. Trains run to Oxford from Princes Risborough again via the new Bicester Chord which connects the main line with the Oxford to Bletchley line and opened in 2015.
Thame
Third Class Monthly return for travel between Paddington and Thame. This ticket is not dated.
The station at Thame was opened in 1862 as the terminus of the extension of the Wycombe Railway line from High Wycombe via Princes Risborough. As originally built the station only had a single platform with trainshed over, an engine shed and a goods shed. The line was extended to eventually reach Oxford in 1864, with Thame becoming a through station. The trainshed roof was extended on one side to provide cover over a new second platform.
When British Railways withdrew passenger services between Princes Risborough and Oxford in early 1963, Thame was closed as were all intermediate stations. Later the track was dismantled between Thame and Cowley. A BP oil depot remained at Thame and the line from Princes Risborough remained open for regular oil trains. In 1991 the oil depot closed and all track between Thame and Princes Risborough was lifted in 1998.
The Watlington branch
The Watlington branch was a short, lightly constructed, line that connected Watlington with the Great Western Railway at Princes Risborough. An earlier plan to reach Watlington from the south never came to fruition when that branch was only built as far as Wallingford. Built by the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway Company, the single track standard gauge line was opened on 15th August 1872 but never made a profit and was sold to the GWR in 1883. The GWR relaid the track and added three wayside halts in an attempt to generate income. The line served mainly agricultural and industrial traffic, such as milk, lime, cement, coal and gypsum. Passenger services ended in 1957, and goods traffic ceased in 1961 with the track beyond Chinnor being lifted. The section between Princes Risborough and Chinnor remained open until 1989 to serve the Chinnor Cement Works. Part of the line is now preserved by the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway Association as a heritage railway.
When opened, four stations were provided being at Princes Risborough, Chinnor, Aston Rowant and Watlington. Three wayside halts, Lewknor Bridge Halt, Kingston Crossing Halt and Bledlow Bridge Halt were opened in September 1906 when steam railmotors were introduced, with Wainhill Crossing Halt opening in August 1925. The halts remained in use until passenger services were withdrawn on the line in 1957.
Kingston Crossing Halt
Undated special Railmotor Car ticket issued on the Watlington branch for a single journey between Kingston Crossing Halt and, as Princes Risborough is not mentioned, we believe Watlington. With that one exception, all the stations and halts along the branch are listed. The ticket must date from before 1948 as we have seen almost identical examples issued by the Railways Executive which came into being in that year.
The GWR main line between Reading and Swindon
The Great Western Railway was extended from London in stages, reaching Reading on March 30th, 1840, and on June 1st opened as far as Steventon. There were only three intermediate stations, being those at Pangbourne, Goring (renamed Goring & Streatley in November 1895.) and Wallingford Road. By August 1840 the line was open to Faringdon Road (from 1864 known as Challow) and the line reached Swindon on 17th December 1840 with Shrivenham as the only intermediate station between Faringdon Road and Swindon. A station did not exist at Didcot until the Didcot to Oxford branch was opened in June 1844. Wantage Road station opened as a goods station in 1846 between Steventon and Faringdon Road (as then named), with Uffington station and branch to Faringdon opening between the renamed Challow station and Shrivenham in June 1864. Wantage Road station was not to be developed and opened as a passenger station until late 1865, with the tramway from there to Wantage opening in October 1875.
On 2nd July 1866, a branch line to Wallingford was opened and Wallingford Road station was renamed Moulsford. The junction for the branch was at Moulsford station, with the branch line track running parallel to the main line for ¾ mile before curving away towards Wallingford. In 1892 the junction for Wallingford was resited down the line, and a new station built there. Moulsford station closed on 29th February 1892, being replaced the same day by the new station which was first known as Cholsey & Moulsford, later more simply as Cholsey. Some of the original station buildings can still be seen at the site of Moulsford railway station. Tilehurst station, between Reading and Pangbourne, was opened to traffic in 1882.
All intermediate stations between Didcot and Swindon were closed to passengers during 1965, but those between Reading and Didcot remained open.
Steventon
Third Class Single for travel between Paddington and Steventon. This ticket is dated AUG 18 1934.
The line was opened as far as Steventon on June 1st 1840. The station building was a wooden structure and it has been suggested that this was to allow for subsequent changes should a line be built from there towards Abingdon. In the event the branch to Oxford, which was opened in 1844, left the main line at Didcot instead and the original wooden building at Steventon remained until the station closed in 1965. When Steventon StationClick or tap to reveal our hidden page about the station at Steventon opened it was Oxford’s closest rail link. Regular stage coaches connected with the city and the surrounding towns. Even after Didcot Station opened mail trains from the west continued to call at Steventon in order to drop off mails for Oxford. This practice did not stop until March 1962, with the station itself closing to passengers in December 1964.
Brunel designed two subsantial stone buildings adjacent to the station, one being described as a Public House, and the other being the Superintendant's Cottage. These two buildings still stand having become private residences. Copies of drawings for these buildings can be found in the 'Brunel connections' page under the 'ABOUT/Culham Station/Some bits of history' menu option. He also designed a terrace of railway worker's cottages, long since demolished, which was built a few hundred yards along the line towards Didcot. Steventon was briefly the headquarters of the GWR as in October 1841 the previously separate London and Bristol committees were merged. Steventon was chosen as a temporary meeting location because it was almost mid-way along the line and the superintendant's cottage was used for this purpose. Weekly board meetings were held there from July 1842 until January 1843, when a permanent GWR headquarters was established at Paddington.
Whilst nothing is left of the station itself, there is one piece of railway memorabilia which can be found in Abingdon if you know where to look. In Albert Park there is a large GWR bench
Photographed by Martin Haddock
Click or tap to see a larger image which, according to the attached plaque, originated from the station at Steventon.
Wantage Road
Third Class Monthly return for travel between Bristol Temple Meads and Wantage Road. This ticket, although not dated, has been used.
Wantage Road station was opened in 1846, but was more than two miles away from the town it supposedly served. There was a large goods shed with associated trackwork on the Down side opposite which, on the Up side a signal box was later added. Nearby was sited a water tower. Both platforms were served by similar wood and brick built shelters.
In 1873 the independent Wantage Tramway was formed to link Wantage Road station with Wantage. It was built alongside the road linking Wantage to Hanney, now the A338. This short line was opened for goods on 1st October 1875, and to passengers a few days later. A connection was made between the tramway and the GWR yard at Wantage Road station to allow for the through running of goods wagons. The tramway siding nearest the road was reserved for passenger tramcars. In the face of competition from a GWR operated bus service the tramway closed to passengers on 1st August 1925, but continued with goods traffic until 22nd December 1945.
On 7th December 1964 British Railways withdrew passenger services from Wantage Road and all other intermediate stations between Didcot and Swindon. The goods yard survived a little longer, closing on 29th March 1965. Little evidence remains of the station and its links with the Wantage Tramway, although the main road is still named Station Road. The original road bridge across the main line was demolished and replaced with a new one slightly to the side of the original to facilitate electrification of the main line.
Challow
First Class Day Excursion return for travel between Challow and Paddington. This ticket, although not dated, has been used.
Challow railway station was built on the Wantage to Faringdon road, about two and a half miles north of West Challow. Oiginally named 'Faringdon Road' it was renamed 'Challow' when the Faringdon Railway between Uffington and Faringdon opened in 1864. It closed to passenger services, along with the other stations between Didcot and Swindon, on 7th December 1964. The station closed to freight traffic on 29th March 1965 and the signal box closed on 30th May 1965. All the station buildings have been demolished and part of the station site has been redeveloped as an industrial park.
The Tilley company can trace its origins back to the early 1800s and in 1919 they started work with paraffin (kerosene) as a fuel for lamps. In 1920 the company started making the lamp that made its name famous with Tilley becoming used as a generic name for a kerosene lamp in many parts of the world. One lamp was developed specifically for railway station and yard use, first being trialled by the GWR at Challow station in 1923. This proved to be a great success and the GWR went on to install them in a large number of its rural stations. They were typically installed on tall concrete lamp posts with hoisting gear to raise and lower the lamps allowing their lighting and re-fuelling each day. These lamps became known as Challow lamps.
Shrivenham
Third Class Priviledge return for travel between Paddington and Shrivenham. This ticket looks as if it has not been issued as it is not date stamped or checked.
Shrivenham station was situated about ¾ mile south of the village it served. It closed to passenger services, along with the other stations between Didcot and Swindon, on 7th December 1964. The station was closed on 4th October 1965, having lost its passenger services on 7th December the previous year. The buildings were soon demolished but remnants of the platforms survived and the site of the goods yard became home to a demolition contractor.
Shrivenham was the scene of two fatal rail crashes. On 10th May 1848 six passengers were killed and 13 injured when the Exeter express struck a horse-box and cattle van which two porters had pushed onto the main line to free a wagon turntable, not realising the express had not yet passed. On 15th January 1936 an express from Penzance collided with some coal wagons just outside the station that had become detached from an earlier train. Two people were killed and 10 injured.
Just to the east of the village, and close to the village of Watchfield, lies the what was Beckett Park. The present house was built in 1830–1831 for the 6th Viscount Barrington. In 1936, following the death the previous year of Charlotte, widow of the 9th Viscount Barrington, the hall and estate were bought by the War Office for use as an artillery training school and in 1946 the estate became home to the Royal Military College of Science, later absorbed into the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. The large house still stands and enjoys Grade II listed status. In 1861, 1866, 1870 and 1874 Beckett Park played host to grand fêtes
Poster for Beckett Park - 1874
Courtesy of Shrivenham Heritage Society in aid of the GWR Widows' and Orphans' Benevolent Fund with many thousands of people travelling by train to Shrivenham. You can read all about these and other fêtes, by by selecting the 'GWR Widows and Orphans' item under the 'Company Servants' welfare' option under the 'BITS & BOBS' menu tab.
The Lambourn Valley Railway
The Lambourn Valley Railway was a lightly laid single line about 12.5 miles long running from the town of Newbury north-west to the village of Lambourn. It was built by the independant Lambourn Valley Railway Company, and was opened in 1898 being operated by three steam locomotives, which it owned, with passenger and goods vehicles being obtained via hire-purchase.
The line ran west from a bay platform at Newbury where it also connected to the London-bound line. It ran parallel to the double track main line for about half a mile before turning northwards. There were initially seven intermediate stations before the terminus at Lambourn, being Speen, Stockcross, Boxford, Welford Park, West Shefford (renamed Great Shefford in 1900), East Garston and Eastbury.
As an independent entity the company faced financial challenges throughout its existence, and in 1904 the locomotives were sold with two steam railmotors being hired from the Great Western Railway. In 1905 the railway was taken over by the GWR and the entire branch line was upgraded and brought to GWR standards. Newbury West Fields Halt, between Newbury and Speen, opened in October 1906 and the stations at Stockcross & Bagnor and Eastbury were downgraded to halts in July 1934. Newbury racecourse had opened in 1905, and the area was well-established for racehorse training, breeding and sales which brought an increasing volume of associated traffic to the line. February 1937 saw the introduction of an AEC diesel railcar which was capable of towing a modest load. A new 2 mile long line was built in 1952 to serve an American Airforce base (RAF Welford). This connected with the Newbury end of Welford Park station and provided much needed goods traffic. Steam haulage was reintroduced on the branch trains in 1956, but by this time revenue on the line was in serious decline and passenger traffic ceased in early 1960. The section between Newbury and Welford remained open for freight traffic to RAF Welford. It was to survive into 1973 as a private line run by the USAF with the track north of Welford Park station having been lifted in 1962. Final closure of the line was marked on Saturday 3rd November 1973 when a special passenger service was operated.
Welford Park and Stockcross
Outward portion of Third Class return for travel between Welford Park and Stockcross dated 28 MAR 1955. This would have been a relatively short journey of a fraction under four miles entirely on the Lambourn Valley line passing through just the one intermediate station at Boxford.
The Oxford and Rugby railway
Authorised in 1845, the Oxford and Rugby Railway was promoted by the Great Western Railway as a means for it to gain access to the West Midlands and the north of England. It would run from a junction with the Didcot to Oxford Railway line south of Oxford, run through Banbury and Fenny Compton to a junction with the London and Birmingham Railway at Rugby. Before work had really started on the new line the GWR decided to make its own line to Birmingham, and in 1846 it acquired the O&RR. In the same year the GWR obtained an act of Parliament, the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway Act 1846, giving authorisation for its Birmingham line to run from a junction with the O&RR near Fenny Compton. In the event, the O&RR line from that junction on towards Rugby was never built. The two railways were then treated as a single project to connect Oxford to Birmingham. In 1850 a single broad gauge line was opened between Oxford and Banbury, and in 1852 the whole line to Birmingham was opened. The line north of Oxford was converted from mixed gauge to standard gauge in April 1869.
After opening, through trains between Didcot and the north had to reverse into, or out of, the original station in Oxford via Millstream Junction. The ORR line plans always included a new through station nwhich opened in October 1852, the original Oxford terminus was closed to passenger services. The old station became a goods depot, but was closed completely in November 1872 when the broad gauge tracks were removed north of Didcot and the short line into the station from Millstream Junction was closed.
Kidlington
Third Class Privilege return for travel between Didcot and Kidlington. This ticket is not dated.
Originally named Woodstock Road, the station was opened in 1855 on the broad gauge Oxford and Rugby Railway which had opened in 1850. It was intended to serve Woodstock and not Kidlington, then just a small village quite some distance away. The station had substantial station buildings which were designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel with goods traffic being provided for by a small goods yard with run round loop on the Down side. Towards the end of the 1890s the goods yard siding was extended across the station approach to serve a timber yard, and in 1923 another siding was laid across the road when Oxford Farmers Ltd. opened a bacon factory. The station was renamed Kidlington when the Woodstock branch, which ran into a new bay platform, opened in 1890.
Kidlington Station closed to passengers on 2nd November 1964 but the goods yard remained in use until June 1965 when the Oxford to Banbury pickup goods train was withdrawn. The bacon factory, by then operated by Messrs. C & T Harris, had closed sometime in the early 1960s and was converted for other use, being finally demolished in 1980. After closure, much of the station site was gradually cleared of buildings but the goods shed was not demolished until 1984. Most of the surrounding area has been redeveloped as a large industrial estate but the station is remembered by one of the roads being named Station Approach.
The Woodstock branch
Opened in 1890, this short branch was constructed by the Duke of Marlborough and was privately owned until 1897 when it became part of the GWR, although it was operated by them from day one. Some through services ran from Oxford, but goods and passenger trains mainly shuttled up and down the line.
When the branch to Woodstock was being planned, it was thought that it would form a junction with the Oxford and Rugby line at Shipton, to the north of Woodstock Road Station. In the event the GWR decided that this would not be possible, and so a separate single line was laid alongside the Down main line all the way from Shipton to a new bay platform at Woodstock Road Station which was renamed Kidlington when the branch opened. There was just one intermediate stop on the branch, Shipton-on-Cherwell halt, which was opened in 1929 to serve workers travelling to and from the nearby cement works. The Blenheim and Woodstock branch line closed in 1954 but the stone built station building in Woodstock, almost opposite the main gate to Blenheim Palace, has been preserved in commercial use.
Blenheim & Woodstock
Third Class Child single for travel from Blenheim & Woodstock to Oxford via Kidlington. This ticket is not dated.
